Railway pilot structure



March 953 A. c. WINTEMBERG ETAL 2,632,403

RAILWAY PILOT STRUCTURE 2 SHEETS-SHEET 1 Filed Nov. 1, 1947 1 #8 n M W 14L H nfl/ m ww fil h l 1 l 3-1 1 Q E l1rli if? v Ill Ml ll L 0 March 1953 A. c. WINTEMBERG EI'AL 2,632,403

RAILWAY PILOT STRUCTURE Filed Nov. 1, 1947 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2 Patented Mar. 24, 1953 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE RAILWAY PILOT STRUCTURE Application November 1, 1947, Serial No. 783,460

3 Claims.

The invention rel-ates to railway vehicles and particularly to the front end structure of a 1000- motive including a pilot and a coupler movable from an extended operative position to a retracted position within a recess in the pilot.

One object of the invention is to close the opening in the pilot at the forward end of the coupler receiving recess after retracting the coupler into the pilot by providing a pair of swinging doors movable independently of the coupler and retractible wholly within the pilot when not in use with no portion of the doors projecting beyond the forwardface of the pilot.

Another object is to provide a pilot which is shorter than and has a smaller opening in its forward face than pilots used heretofore for retractible couplers.

Other objects will be apparent to those skilled in the art from the following description and accompanying drawings in which:

Figure 1 is a top view and partial horizontal section taken approximately on the line l---! of Figure 3 and shows a locomotive front end structure constructed according to the invention, the coupler extending forwardly in operative position and the pilot doors being retracted within the pilot.

Figure 2 is a view similar to Figure 1 showing the coupler retracted within the pilot and showing the doors closing the coupler recess opening in the pilot.

Figure 3 is a longitudinal vertical section taken approximately on the line 3-3 of Figure 1.

Figure 4 is a front view partially broken away to show the door lower support.

Figure 5 is a vertical section taken approximately on the line 5-5 of Figure 2 and shows details of the door lower support and of the latch to hold the door in open position.

Figure 6 is a detail horizontal section taken on the line 66 of Figure 4.

The forward end of locomotive framing i mounts a pilot 2 having a coupler receiving recess 3. A yieldingly mounted coupler carrier 4 in pocket 3 supports the forward end of a coupler device 5 which includes a link 6 with bifurcated ends and a coupler I. The rear end of link 6 is pivoted to a draft gear yoke 8 and its forward end pivotally mounts coupler 1.

Depending legs It] on link 6 slide on carrier 4 which yieldingly supports the forward end of the link and the coupler. Coupler 1 extends forwardly of the pilot when in functioning position and may pivot horizontally and vertically 2 to accommodate relative horizontal and vertical movement of adjacent vehicles caused by curves and track irregularities.

Coupler I may be retracted wholly within pilot recess 3 by pivoting link 6 and coupler I to the positions indicated in brokenlines in Figure 2. Coupler i may be locked to link 6 in extended and retracted positions by a vertical pin 9 extending through link 6 and coupler 1 in coupler extended position and through link 6 along in coupler retracted position. The coupler device described is the subject matter of a copending application of J. C. Travilla, Jr., filed August 25, 1947, Serial No. 770,480, now abandoned and in itself does not constitute the present invention.

A pair of doors H, I2 have inwardly extending arms Ila, I211, respectively, and swing about vertical pins [3, M, respectively, forming pivotal connections at the inner ends of the arms to the pilot horizontal wall 2a, from an operative position shown in Figure 2 in which the doors close the forward end of the coupler recess in the pilot when the coupler is retracted, to an inoperative position shown in Figure l in which the doors are received wholly within the coupler pocket and allow the coupler to be moved to its extended functioning position forwardly of the pilot.

Each door H, I2 has an inwardly extending horizontal lower flange W above the level of the bottom edge of the door and provided with depending ribs l5 substantially throughout its length and with spaced apart lugs I6 spaced from ribs l5. When the doors are in open position, ribs I5 and lugs l5 form a channel between them to receive upstanding lugs l I on the pilot and when the doors are in closed position, ribs l5 and lugs I6 straddle upstanding lugs IS on the pilot. Lugs l8 cooperate with pins l3, M to resist rearward thrust of the doors when the doors are in closed position and strike an object in the path of the locomotive.

The doors are locked in closed position by a latch 22 (Figure 6) pivoted to door l2 for movement in a horizontal plane. Latch 22 has a hook 23 at one end which fits into a lug 24 in door ll. A spring 25 urges latch 22 to locking position. The latch may be released by pulling forwardly on handle 26 attached to one end of the latch.

Each door H, 12 is locked in open inoperative position by a latch I9 (Figure 5) pivotally mounted in the floor of the coupler pocket 3. Latch I9 is urged by a spring 20 to the position shown in Figures 1, 3, and 5 in which the latch resists forward movement of the door to closed position. To close a door, the associated latch I9 is depressed below the door with one hand while the door is closed with the other hand. When the forward edge of the door passes over latch 19, the latch is held depressed by the door until the rear edge of the door passes forwardly beyond the latch, whereupon the latch will spring back into place. When a door is being moved from closed to opened positions, the associated latch I9 is depressed by the door as the door rides over the latch until the door a'buts .a stop' 2l forming a part of rear lug E7, the latch then springs up and engages the front of the door.

By pivoting the coupler relative to the link to retract the coupler and by using'a pair of doors to close the coupler recess opening as described, a shorter pilot and a smaller opening in the front of the pilot to receive the coupler may be used than is now used on locomotives with other retractible coupler arrangements and doors movable with the couplers. Also the doors are retracted wholly within the pilot when they are not }being used.

The details of construction may be varied substantially without departing from the spirit of the invention, and the exclusive use of those modifications coming within the scope of the claims is contemplated.

What is claimed is:

1. In a railroad vehicle pilot, a front wall havinganopening, a coupler receiving recess extending 'rearwardly of said front wall and having atop wa'll anda bottom wall merging with said front wall, an upright door for said opening having a rearwardly extending arm on its upper portion pivoted to said top wal1 and having an inwardly extending flange on its lower portion provided with depending elements spaced apart 1 transversely of the door, upwardly extending lugs on said bottom wall received between opposing 4 faces of said door elements and forming a track on which said door may slide to and from said opening and forming stops positively resisting movement of said door transversely of its face when the door is in closed position.

2. In a railroad vehicle pilot, a front wall having an opening for a coupler, a horizontal wall extending rearwardly from said front wall below the level of said opening and having upstanding lugs leading from a point spaced rearwardly from said wall near the center of said opening arcuately and outwardly from the longitudinal center line and rearwardly from said front wall, said horizontal wall and lugs forming a support for a sliding door, and said lugs forming spaced'guides for the door.

3. A railroad vehicle pilot structure as described in claim 1 in which the track-forming elements on the bottom wall form an arcuate track guiding the door rearwardly and to the side o the: coupler-receiving recess as the door is moved away fro'm theopening in the front wall! ADELBERT C. WINTEMBERG. GRENVILLE E. JONES REFERENCES CITED The'following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date Re. 17,721 Fairhurst July 8, 1930 490,057 Adams 1 Jan. 17, 1893 807,319 Robinson Dec. 12, 1905 1,604,341 Duncanson Oct. 26, 1926 I 2,089,152 Meyer et a1. Aug. 3, 1937 2,244,002 Dilworth June 3, 1941 2,292,193 Blomberg Aug. 4, 1942 2,329,235 Metzger- Sept, 14, 1943 2,400,584 Wolfe May 21, 1946 2,573,755 Abell Nov. 6, 1951 

